This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
CONFIDENCE is returning to the Gold Coast’s new apartment market, with the city recording its highest volume of sales since the global financial crises in 2008 and as developers beginning to move forward with projects.
According to the latest Urbis Gold Coast Apartment Essentials report, a total of 496 new apartment sales were recorded in the September quarter, with nine new projects launched and five sold out, and the number of new apartments remaining for sale grew to 1,375.
Total sales for the year in the market now number 1,236.
The number of pending projects likely to be launched over the following six months has increased to 33, compared to 22 for the same quarter last year.
Almost half of all pending projects are in the GC central precinct, with a total of 17, and 12 of these located in the suburbs of Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise.
Urbis senior consultant Lynda Campbell said the number of apartments contained within the pending projects list totals 3,944.
“Some of these projects will be staged and may not have the total number of apartments released over the following six months, but will be rolled out over several years.
“With a sales rate of 1,494 during 2015 and 2016 set to eclipse this, the supply level is keeping pace with demand,” she said.
Medium-rise projects now account for around 50% of all projects and recorded 255 sales across 30 projects in the quarter, compared to 241 sales across 31 high-rise projects.
Campbell said the coastal fringe precinct recorded the highest level of sales, out-performing the usually high-performing beachfront locations.
“The coastal fringe precinct recorded a total of 255 sales during the September quarter 2016, the precinct’s highest quarterly sales level in three years and accounted for 51% of sales across the Gold Coast,” she added.
The southern beaches and northern NSW precincts recorded their highest quarterly sales rate of the last three years, with 88 sales following a long stretch of undersupply. New projects contributed to an increased sales rate.
“While new supply has been introduced, the southern beaches remains the most undersupplied precinct across the Gold Coast, with only 63 apartments available for sale at the end of September,” Campbell said.
The overall weighted average sale price grew to $596,149. The GC central precinct recorded the largest increase, lifting $75,985 during the quarter to $685,069, based on 144 sales across 17 monitored projects.
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom offering remains dominant in the new apartment market, making up 74% of sales and recording an increased number of sales during the quarter to a 12-month high of 367.
Australian Property Journal
